Northstar Partnership

LOUIS is pleased to announce a partnership with Literacy Minnesota to bring their Northstar digital literacy testing center capacity to Louisiana along with a professional development series on testing center administration and delivery of digital literacy educational programming.

Background

As part of the Governor’s CARES Act for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER) program, LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network (LOUIS) has been tapped to implement a digital literacy program under the direction of the Commissioner of Higher Education, Dr. Kim Hunter Reed and LOUIS Executive Director, Laurie Blandino. This program was developed through the Board of Regents (BoR) Digital Inclusion Strategic Action Team, which identified improving digital literacy as one strategy the Louisiana higher education community could embrace to address the negative impact of the digital divide during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Northstar Digital Literacy

Many postsecondary institutions have implemented the Northstar Digital Literacy platform on their campus. Learners have access to a variety of digital skills learning opportunities. Some examples include:

Online, self-guided assessments measure mastery of basic skills in each of 14 areas.

• Test takers can receive certificates and/or digital badges when they pass Northstar assessments in a proctored environment at a Northstar testing location. When test takers are logged in to Northstar Online Learning, the Northstar assessment result page links to self-directed online learning practice for skills not yet mastered. Once test takers pass the Northstar assessments, which certify basic skills, they are qualified to pursue more advanced training, certifications, or career pathways elsewhere.

Classroom curricula provide detailed lesson plans for instructors. 

• Lesson plans are learner-centered and interactive and can be used in one-on-one or group instruction. The lessons give learners multiple opportunities to build digital literacy skills through practice tasks. Each lesson plan includes a detailed teacher prep guide. Lessons are structured to include warm-ups, daily objectives, practice tasks, digital literacy vocabulary work, and wrap-ups.

Northstar Online Learning (NSOL) provides individualized online instruction and practice. 

• NSOL provides original online content that learners can access independently. When learners complete an assessment, they are automatically directed to the NSOL content corresponding to what they still need to learn.

Training Sessions